Letters to the Editor: We need a bigger IRS, and the Trump Organization shows why

To the editor: The Trump Organization’s alleged scheme to defraud the government is more evidence that President Biden’s proposal to increase funding for the Internal Revenue Service is reasonable. Just as conservatives are advocating for more police funding to deal with the surge in street crime, funding to deal with white-collar crimes should also be increased.

Former President Trump is not the sharpest tool in the toolbox. I am sure there are more sophisticated schemes to defraud the government out there, and New York’s indictment of Trump’s business is only the tip of the iceberg.

People who were outraged over the theft of sneakers during the protests after the George Floyd murder should be equally outraged by this alleged theft of millions of taxpayer dollars.

Floyd lost his life for allegedly passing a counterfeit $20 bill. When this issue is resolved, the Trump family will probably be less wealthy but they will still have their lives.

June Thompson, Los Angeles

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To the editor: Michael Cohen, the former attorney and Trump fixer, tells columnist Virginia Heffernan that he “didn’t need the money” from working for Trump and doesn’t know why he was so loyal to him.

Of course he knows. He made a lot of money doing Trump’s dirty work, and one has to assume that Cohen knew what he was doing was sometimes marginally legal and sometimes illegal, as he admits to breaking the law on Trump’s behalf.

Why was he so willing to break the law? Because he was paid well to do so and apparently enjoyed the status of being Trump’s personal attorney. Cohen is now monetizing his “born again” moral conversion.

Let’s be clear about this: Cohen flipped on Trump after he realized that the gravy train was over and that his and his family’s future was in jeopardy. Had Trump continued to support Cohen’s legal defense, I doubt he would have ever written his book “Disloyal.”

Gene E. Schwartz, San Diego